Superbly photographed short from the British filmmaker Cecil Hepworth (but directed by Gaston Quribet) follows a family of gypsies as they travel through a countryside of dusty lanes that are unmolested by tarmac and metal signposts. The gypsies might be romanticised, but the sumptuous locations are authentic.
3 Reviews
The Subjective Camera
boblipton24 August 2018
The Internet Movie Database shows this early Hepworth documentary as seven minutes. The version released by Mark Roth on dvd in 2004 timed in at over 10 minutes. I played it at seven minutes with no loss. Call it one reel and set your cranking speed at what you will, as the projectionist did more than a century ago, and your audience likely will not be displeased.
I found it most interesting not for its kindly view towards the gypsies of England, nor its restful and tinted views of the wooded back lanes along which they traveled, but for its subjective camera and its clear narrator. It begins with titles announcing that the narrator found some gypsies in his garden, like toadstools in a fairy ring, and asked them for a day's ride with them... which they agreed to on being paid. There follows a closeup of an old woman smiling and taking something, presumably money, from the camera. Later, the caravan stops at a public house for beers, leaving the narrator in the caravan.... but come out to offer the camera a beer.
I doubt this is the earliest use of a subjective camera in cinema; you can make a case that Williamon's THE BIG SWALLOW is an earlier example. As an attempt to put the audience on site in a documentary, it's still a remarkable idea.
I found it most interesting not for its kindly view towards the gypsies of England, nor its restful and tinted views of the wooded back lanes along which they traveled, but for its subjective camera and its clear narrator. It begins with titles announcing that the narrator found some gypsies in his garden, like toadstools in a fairy ring, and asked them for a day's ride with them... which they agreed to on being paid. There follows a closeup of an old woman smiling and taking something, presumably money, from the camera. Later, the caravan stops at a public house for beers, leaving the narrator in the caravan.... but come out to offer the camera a beer.
I doubt this is the earliest use of a subjective camera in cinema; you can make a case that Williamon's THE BIG SWALLOW is an earlier example. As an attempt to put the audience on site in a documentary, it's still a remarkable idea.
Fascinating glimpses of the English countryside in 1906
robert-temple-115 April 2017
This is a charming and delightful little film from long, long ago. IMDb describes its running time as 7 minutes, but it seemed some minutes longer than that, although I did not time it. It has been preserved and released on DVD by reelclassics, who have performed a wonderful service by doing so. The slight story is only a pretext for the film really. The narrator (who speaks by title cards), whom we do not see, approaches a family of gypsies (here spelled gipsies) who live in a typical traveller's wagon and move from place to place, camping beside country roads. At first he is rebuffed, but when he offers them some money, they agree to take him on a trip in their wagon with them. The gypsies appear to be actors, though their costumes and wagon are real enough. This gives the film maker an opportunity to film very slow moving shots of the English countryside as if filming from the gypsies' wagon on his 'trip'. The print is so good that this is a real treat. We get many lingering and extended views of beautiful and largely deserted English countryside as it was in 1906, as if we were watching a carefully made travelogue of the past from a time machine. Although we see sleepy cottages and farmhouses, most of the country views show no signs of human habitation. We also get wonderful views of the streets of old villages, with no cars, of course. The camera likes to linger on leafy lanes and woodlands. This little film is a priceless gem for anyone interested in the English countryside as it once was, and should be sold at all National Trust sites, where the public would probably buy it in vast quantities.
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